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London Summer 2013 Meet - The Railway - 13/07/2013

Basic Details

The Meet has Been Confirmed for Saturday 13th July 2013

Bookings can be made through the Events section.

The cost for those electing to pay by 8th July 2013 through PayPal or Offline will be £9.95. The cost for those electing to pay after that date (including on the door) will be £12.00. Could all those who are electing to pay offline please PM Postal through the Forum to arrange payment.

The current view of the pub as you come out of London Liverpool Street station

• Date: Saturday 13th of July 2013
• Time: Noon-6pm.
• Location: The Railway, 15 Liverpool Street, London, EC2M 7NX.
• Price: £9.95 if paid by 8th July 2013; £12.00 if paying after that date (including on the door).
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How To Get There

Train

London Liverpool Street station is served by Greater Anglia from Cambridge, Norwich, Ipswich, Clacton and many other stations on the Greater Anglia network.

London King's Cross station is served by East Coast from Edinburgh, York, Darlington, Leeds, Newcastle and several other locations. Grand Central also serve London King's Cross from both Sunderland and Bradford Interchange stations, as well as York and a few other stations. Furthermore, First Hull Trains serve London King's Cross from Hull, calling at a few local stations as well as Doncaster, Retford, and Grantham.

Upon arrival at London King's Cross, you could either use the Circle Line or Metropolitan Line all the way to Liverpool Street, or the Hammersmith & City Line to Moorgate (where it is understood to be terminating due to engineering works) and take a short walk via Finsbury Circus to the pub. Alternatively, you could take the Piccadilly Line to Holborn then change onto the Central Line to reach Liverpool Street; or the Victoria Line to Oxford Circus then change onto the Central Line to reach Liverpool Street.

London Euston station is served by Virgin Trains from Birmingham New Street, Crewe, Warrington, Chester & North Wales, Preston, Glasgow Central and Edinburgh. London Midland also serve London Euston - offering cheaper alternative to Virgin Trains - from Birmingham New Street, Liverpool Lime Street, Watford, Milton Keynes, Rugby and many other locations on the London Midland network.

Upon arrival at London Euston, you could take the short walk (about 5 minutes) to Euston Square station to use either the Circle Line or Metropolitan Line all the way to Liverpool Street, or the Hammersmith & City Line to Moorgate (where it is understood to be terminating due to engineering works) and take a short walk via Finsbury Circus to the pub. Alternatively, you can take the Victoria Line to Oxford Circus then change onto the Central Line to reach Liverpool Street.

London Marylebone is served solely by Chiltern Railway from locations such as Beaconsfield, High Wycombe, Princes Risborough, Aylesbury, Banbury, Leamington Spa, Warwick, Solihull, and Birmingham (both Moor Street and Snow Hill stations).

Upon arrival at London Marylebone, you could take the Bakerloo Line to Oxford Circus to use the Central Line all the way to Liverpool Street - which takes about 26 minutes. An alternative is to take the short walk to Baker Street to use the Circle Line or Metropolitan Line all the way to Liverpool Street - which should take about 15 minutes from Baker Street - or take the Hammersmith & City Line to Moorgate (where it is understood to be terminating due to engineering works) and take a short walk via Finsbury Circus to the pub.

London Paddington station is served by First Great Western from Penzance, Plymouth, Exeter, Bristol, Oxford, Reading and several other locations.

Upon arrival at London Paddington, you could take the Circle Line to Liverpool Street (either via Edgware Road (changing trains there where necessary), which takes about 23 minutes; or direct via Victoria, which takes about 38 minutes) or the Hammersmith & City Line to Moorgate (where it is understood to be terminating due to engineering works) then walk to the pub via Finsbury Circus. An alternative is to take the southbound Bakerloo Line to Oxford Circus then change onto the eastbound Central Line to Liverpool Street - this is slightly quicker, but does involve changing lines.

For the above-ground option, the 205 bus run very regularly (at least every 12 minutes) from outside or near to all of the above stations directly to Liverpool Street station.

Train Tickets

Advance tickets are available for the meet date through most TOCs.

If anyone would like advice on split ticketing or alternative routing for their journey, please feel free to PM 'headshot119' on the forum.

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Bus

Direct bus routes from most other London Termini and key stations are available.

For routes with a yellow background on the bus stop flag, you need to buy your ticket before boarding using the red machine located by the stop. Any routes with a blue background are night buses.

TfL map of Bus Routes from(/to) Liverpool St Station

London Termini

Station	Routes	Stops
Paddington	205 (or 23)	H; L; P (H; M; P)
Waterloo	26	C; P
KingsX/ St Pancras	205 (& 214)	C; E; K (E; K; S)
Euston	205	D
Charing Cross (Trafalgar Sq)	23 11	B; F F
Embankment	388	J; L; Y
Marylebone	205	D; L; W
Victoria	11	E; N; T; W
London Bridge	35; 47; 48; 149 133	J; K; Y D; R

Note: Routes with brackets may not be door to door, a short walk may be needed.

Key stations

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Coach

Station	Routes	Stops
Clapham Junction	35; 344	J; K; Y
Elephant & Castle	100	N; Q
Finsbury Park	153	C
Blackfriars	388	J; L; Y

National Express coaches and Megabus provide coach services across the country into London. If searching for a fare, don't forget to check stops in London other than Victoria Coach Station, as some actually stop beside the street at a few locations.

Car

A limited amount of parking is available in bays in the nearby street, Finsbury Circus. You would be strongly advised to give yourself plenty of time if you are travelling via car. There is no congestion charge at weekends - it ends at 18:00 on Friday and restarts at 07:00 Monday.

Facilities and Venue Details

Food

A buffet lunch will be provided. Those with special dietary or allergy requirements can usually be catered for - the event sign-up form includes space to specify anything along these lines. There will be vegetarian food as well as meat/fish products.

Drinks

Real ales, ciders, beers, lagers, wine, soft drinks (brand name cola, lemonade, etc.) and water. Tea/coffee should also be available.

WiFi

WiFi is available for the meet laptops to connect with each other but not for internet access. There may be 3rd party WiFi in the surrounding area, such as The Cloud.

Room Layout

Basic room layout:

Note: planned sims TBC

				Sofa		Sofa
				Sofa		Sofa
		Exit		+
					WKS 10
			+	WKS 09
		Sim Host(s)	DHCP		WKS 08
	WKS 15		WKS 07
	WKS 14		WKS 06
	WKS 13		Tables		WKS 05
	WKS 12		for		WKS 04
	+ WKS 11		Buffet		WKS 03
		WKS 02
		WKS 01
		Bar
	Exit
	To toilets and stairs

Key:

• WKS = Workstation seat
• DHCP = Network server
• + = Power sockets

The Meet

Times

Planned from 12noon to 6pm, those with laptops for use by the SimSig public are asked to arrive by 11:30 and register. Those without laptops are normally asked to wait until noon when it is hoped everything will be ready.

Entrance Fee

As with past meets, this covers the buffet and administration fees. Payment is usually required in advance for meets as we order food for a specific number of people. When more people turn up on the day without paying in advance, it reduces the food selection for those who were considerate enough to pay in advance. We realise that some people may not be able to confirm until closer to the meet date, but hope you understand the situation.

For this meet the "early bird" payment will be £9.95 per head, with the charge for those wishing to pay on or after 8th July 2013 being £12.00.

For those who do not like using PayPal, you will be able to make payment by cheque or bank transfer. Please contact Postal via PM through the Forum if you wish to pay offline.

For those arriving after a certain (yet to be decided) time, it is possible that there will be no entrance fee, but this again depends on many factors which are yet to be decided. If you have not paid in advance then entry will not be permitted until that time. It is unfortunate that the good natured majority has often been spoilt by a small few who try to eat without paying, hence our stance on this subject.

What's Included

Buffet lunch, shared access to a set of multiplayer simulations, tutorials on how to play SimSig if needed.

Where To Stay

These are suggestions only and we cannot vouch for the quality of these hotels. Due to the nature of the hotel industry, prices will vary widely, usually upwards the later you book.

Hotel California - just a few steps from King's Cross / St. Pancras. Don't expect huge rooms but the buffet breakfast is good. From £70 for a single per night. No mirrors on the ceiling but they might have pink champagne on ice.

Premier Inn, Beckton - next to Gallions Reach DLR station. From £60 per night or £119 for Friday and Saturday, breakfast extra. Also one at the ExCeL centre but slightly more expensive.

Friday night

An informal meet-up may be planned on the Friday night for drinks and perhaps a meal too, but as said this doesn't always happen. More details closer to the time, once location and venue has been decided upon. Indicate on booking form if you are interested so we can update you nearer the time.

Saturday night

A number of people, probably no more than 20, went to Hamilton Hall for at least one drink after the meet. Afterwards, no more than 10 people stayed on for the curry in Brick Lane - the restaurant selected on the night was Chillies ; and there were no incidents involving the Metropolitan Police! After the meal, at-least one more drink was had elsewhere by a few others, before everyone dispersed.

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Sunday

Sometimes, but not always, something is arranged for the Sunday. More information will be provided here if or when anything is arranged.

Simulations Used

The SimSig Loader was used for the first time at a meet for this meet. The original plan was to have two separate Marylebone multiplays running on one side of the room, and also the refreshed ('loader'/'scrolly') London Liverpool Street on the other; however due to the amount of laptops bought to the meet, just the two separate Marylebone multiplays were run in the end.

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Group Photo

Follow-up Reports

Meet

After some initial technical issues, which were resolved after a rushed trip to a nearby shop for some extra last minute supplies, the simulations were up and running. As reported above, only two instances of Marylebone were run in the end, and there were enough laptops to do so - it was decided not to simulate the 'BIOX' (Bicester [Town] to Oxford) line, which would have probably required two more laptops to do so anyway. There were no further technical issues experienced, and the timetable used was played up to around 9am sim time, when the meet finished.

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Technical Visit

On the Sunday, 14 people turned up at London Marylebone station for 10:45am to do the technical visit. After having signed in as visitors and received their passes, three groups were formed. Each group got to visit the actual Marylebone IECC (which the simulation of the same name covers - although the real IECC is only North and South Workstations), and Chiltern Sub-control. As an added bonus, each group also got to enjoy an open-cab-door short journey on a 2-car Class 165, #165010, from the station to signal 327 at Neasden South Junction, where the driver changed ends and drove the train back to Marylebone station. As a final unexpected surprise, each person received a Chiltern Railways goodybag, too!

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Last edited by postal on 02/12/2018 at 21:11